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nicky maynard

Bury will be returning to League One this summer, kicking off a brand new season in August. But before even the fixtures can be announced, a trip back to court looms for the club.

As the dust settles on this year’s promotion back to the third tier, the realisation a potential history defining date on May 15th could well decide Bury’s future.

Until financial issues can be dealt with, planning for next season has to be put on hold. Despite a second place finish in League Two, it seems Bury are unable to make any steps forward as far as strengthening the squad is concerned.

Ryan Lowe and his players have not been paid for two months and while owner Steve Dale has the club up for sale, no potential buyer has come to the forefront yet.

Lowe urged Dale to ‘find a solution’ when discussing the off the pitch drama at the club. As far as his immediate future is concerned, the former striker said he and his players would not be going anywhere soon, yet would need assurances that all club staff, from manager to cleaner, would have a regular wage coming in.

When discussing the off the pitch troubles, Lowe said.

“We’ve done our bit. Now it’s time for the club to find a solution. The club needs an investor or a new owner. It’s up for sale and I hope it’s resolved very soon because I’ve got players effectively out of contract as of yesterday.

They want to know where they stand, and so do I. Because we’ve all gone a couple of months without pay and we’ve all got to look after our families.

I ain’t in no rush to leave and nor is anybody else. As long as the finances get resolved, I’m happy. But there’s a deadline on everything isn’t there? And there’ll come a point where all of us – myself, my staff, the players – become available’.

Many clubs will look to the work achieved by the former striker, realising that in the past year the EFL saw the emergence of a top manager. Only days after the 2018/19 season drew to a close, Plymouth Argyle was a club reported having shown an interest in him.

Danny Mayor is now out of contract and Nicky Maynard is a free agent. These are two players of many who could look elsewhere in their careers if they are to lose faith in the Bury board.

For now, fans will hope and pray Dale finds his successor. Wednesday’s big court day could well decide everything. Long AND short term.

As the 2018/19 football league season draws to a close, the question of promotion for Bury has finally be answered. Yes, of course Ryan Lowe’s side would eventually join Lincoln City in League One next season, as confirmed on Tuesday night at Tranmere Rovers.

Other than the division change, the thought that Bury could be without their best players and even manager is a worrying thought all fans will not even want to consider.

So as the Shakers look to prepare for life in League One, without or without Lowe and his backroom staff, we take a look at the three players Bury will want to cling onto next season…

Danny Mayor

Scorer of the goal that earned Bury promotion in their 1-1 draw with Tranmere on Tuesday night, the key to the side’s creativity throughout this season as well. Missed so much during April in defeats against Cambridge and Carlisle through suspension, the idea the upcoming League Two club could lose their midfield man isn’t really an option anybody with an affiliation to the club would want to consider.

With 12 goals and 11 assists this season in all competitions, Mayor will no doubt be in hot pursuit for many League One and even Championship clubs. With the club back up for sale and with no takers at present, Mayor may look elsewhere to extend his playing career, especially considering the fact he turns 28 and arguably in the prime of his career.

Nicky Maynard

Again another obvious choice to list, yet considering he is the clubs top goal scorer this season in a promotion winning one, Maynard’s first season in Greater Manchester may well be his last.

His 21 chart stopping season is bettered by only two players in League Two this season in James Norwood (Tranmere) and Tyler Walker (Mansfield Town). He didn’t start his playing season till September either, so his record in front of goal is one any other investor couldn’t ignore. Like Mayor, the ex-Aberdeen man will not want to see a salary reduction. The chances of him remaining as the frontman of Bury are most definitely in doubt.

Dom Telford

Potentially a left field name to mention in this list yet after starring in the Checkatrade Trophy run this season, the 22-year-old is someone the Shakers will want to keep hold of and not let a relatively young striker head out the exit door.

Even though players like Jay O’Shea or Nicky Adams may be standout options, 14 goals in only his second full playing season is no bad total. With youth on his side, he could well be the long term choice up front for Bury and an immediate successor to Maynard up top.

Bury host Port Vale in the final match of this memorable season back in League Two. How many players make the team sheet for opening fixtures in August is anyone’s guess however.

Danny Mayor and Jay O’Shea were nominated for League Two player of the season on Tuesday. Rightly so, between them they’ve netted 26 goals and 12 assists in the process of taking Bury to within touching basis of promotion with 8 games to play.

There is no doubt a few eyebrows may have been raised when Lowe opted for a 3-5-2 formation back in August following on from Bury’s slow start to life in League Two, but there has been no better players than Mayor or O’Shea who have benefited from the formation switch.

For Mayor, he has no doubt found a level to excel at in League Two this season and his creative play will prove just that. Still Bury’s main creative force and the main architect behind Bury’s newly found attacking play under Lowe this season.

Jay O’Shea has been of similar ranking and no doubt deserves his nomination, but may be overlooked for the award. One of the surviving players from the shambles that was Bury’s 2017/18 League One campaign under Lee Clark, Chris Lucketti and then finally Lowe himself as caretaker manager, O’Shea has powered through the ranks netting 16 goals this year and he’s got 8 games to still add to his tally.

Whether Bury’s nominees win the award is another matter, but they may be one goalscoring machine that could deny either the top prize.

Despite a fair few assists from Lowe’s duo, neither can come close to Tranmere striker James Norwood in terms of goals, scoring 26 league goals this season, 9 more than Nicky Maynard. Where Tranmere would be without his goals in another debate. 5 wins in a row, the Merseyside based club look the most likeliest to make one final push for the automatic promotion places, trailing MK Dons by 5 points but can look to David’s Flitcroft Mansfield cracking under pressure for a glimmer of hope.

All three have had a huge effect on there respective teams this season, but if Mayor and O’Shea are to be denied, it will be simply because an out and out goal scorer has had one of those seasons.

In today’s football calendar there are very few weekends off, so Bury’s postponement against Cambridge last weekend means it’s been two weeks since a late Nicky Maynard winner saw the Shakers steal all three points over Stevenage, with a performance typical of ‘the hallmark of champions’.

Since that dramatic afternoon, Bury are still capable of winning League Two as the season enters the home straight. In order to take the top spot, they’ll need to avoid any more defeats, home or away. That may seem almost impossible on paper but Bury hasn’t got much choice with Danny Cowley’s Lincoln still six points clear.

With only 8 (Lincoln) and 9 (Bury) games left to play, Ryan Lowe will be hoping for something extra special to end his superb first season in charge at Gigg Lane. Bury have 27 points left to play for, meaning that right now a total of 97 points are the maximum Lowe’s men can reach. Lincoln on 76 points have an achievable target of 100, but can’t afford more than one slip up realistically due to the gap at the top of the table so tight.

What’s likely is neither team will suffer more than two stumbles before the end of the season, but a few stand out matches could cause the odd issue, however.

Back-to-back games against playoff chasing Colchester and Carlisle will be no easy task, the same goes for Tranmere in the final away game who sit in the top seven as things stand. For Lincoln, their games will bring a smile to a Bury fan dreaming of the League Two end of season number one spot.

They’ll play the same opposition as Bury who are listed above plus MK Dons who have a puncher’s chance of automatic promotion. A home game taking on Sol Campbell’s Macclesfield will also throw up a different challenge altogether, and one that shouldn’t be underestimated.

Retro Football Shirt Cushions

Many Bury fans will relish the thought of promotion alone this season, going up as champions will merely be a bonus to what’s already been accomplished. In Lincoln’s game at Mansfield last Monday night, several shakers fans would rather have seen an Imps win than three points for former manager David Flitcroft and Mansfield for example.

Bury’s own ambitions will probably rest on how many, or how few points Lincoln drop before the season is out. Therefore, looking at Lincoln’s run in fixtures, fans can dream at least.

Bury are flying in League Two at the moment, Ryan Lowe has got the Shakers ticking and scoring for fun. Having scored four goals plus for four of the six November matches – Scoring two and three in the other games.

Sitting in fifth place, a playoff place should we add. Everything is looking rosy at the Energy Check Stadium.

After an uncomfortable start following last seasons relegation from League One, September came around and things have clicked into gear for Lowe’s men. Nicky Maynard is firing them in with his eight goals and two assists so far, followed by Moore (6 Goals), O’Shea (6 Goals) and Danny Mayor with his five goals and five assists providing the much-needed help a team needs in a race for promotion.

Is this early form enough to let the loyal Bury fans dream of promotion come to the end of the season, or is it too early for that type of talk with us not even reaching the halfway point of the campaign yet?

Lowe seems to have already gained that much-needed momentum. His 3-5-2 formation is working, and he has players on his hands with the quality of standards higher than the fourth tier of English Football.

The Shakers have slowly started to grease the wheel, after taking them a few games to come to terms with life in a lower division.

Furthermore, Bury may be ten points behind leaders at the moment MK Dons, but they are just two points behind third-placed Colchester, who they have already beat 2-1 earlier in the season.

If I was a betting man, my money would be on the Shakers to be playing League One football next season already. They look white hot, however, December will be a make or break month as they go head to head with teams in and around them.

Should they go into January still within the top seven places, Bury fans would be right to think thier dream is going to be a reality…

In recent weeks at Bury it’s been three wise men whose names all start with the same letter, that have hit the performance heights so far this campaign – Maynard, Mayor and McFadzean.

The above trio are part of the reason Bury are going along steadily in League Two. Yet there is no reason why an injection of a smart Captains touch, can help take Bury all the way to the top.

Bury’s Captain Neil Danns showed his quality last weekend as the Shakers romped to victory at Macclesfield. Scoring two goals along the way, Bury closed the gap on Stevenage in the race for the playoffs.

It seems a shame Danns is now 35, an age considered more mature on the football age chart. Yet the midfielder continues to feature strongly in manager Lowe’s plans.

His contributions at the Moss Rose last weekend were his first goals of the season, however, there is only so long a time before Danns can add his name to the scoresheet.

Four of his five goals last season came from the end of February onwards. In a team that struggled to put the ball in the net in 2017/18, his goals don’t look too shabby.

Saturday’s thumping win in Cheshire was further signs that when Bury are on their game, they are a huge threat to all in League Two.

It was the third time this season Bury have scored four goals in a game. A testament to the open, attacking football Lowe has brought to the table this season.

There is a growing belief in the stands that Bury’s promotion challenge this season will not fall away at the waist-side. With Danns joining the in-form Mayor, Maynard and Mcfadzean, there is every chance that promotion belief can turn into reality, sooner or later anyway.

Possession does not win you football matches on it’s own. In an era of endless Opta stats, there is still only one stat that really matters. The end result.

Despite Ryan Lowe bringing a new attacking brand of football to Bury, it hasn’t necessarily lead to a complete turnaround in form.

One win in the last six games isn’t the form that will take you back up into League One. Although the defeat at Port Vale was only Bury’s second since early September, Bury’s reason for dropping points is continuous in most matches.

Despite a wide range of attacking options and the likes of Nicky Maynard and Danny Mayor in top form, Bury are struggling to convert enough chances, also to really capitalise on their domination with the ball enough in front of goal.

Yet unlike in League One when Bury struggled for wins most weeks, the Shakers are now dominating games, even when the likes of automatic promotion chasing Newport County come to Gigg,

You could say the team have been unlucky most weeks. Against Newport Joe Day denied Maynard all three points with a superb save late on, whilst at Port Vale, Mayor was unfortunate not to grab an equaliser when his long-range effort hit the bar.

The Shakers have demolished Notts County and Grimsby 4-0 already this season and have clearly tightened up at the back with the solid 3-5-2 formation, particularly since Rochdale away in the Checkatrade trophy.

But these facts don’t change the most important factor of the Shaker’s struggles. For all their attempts on goal, Bury aren’t quite clinical enough at the business end of the pitch.

Bury now lie four points outside the playoffs after Saturday’s defeat. Upcoming games against teams at the lower end of the division gives the Shakers a chance to really show why they are promotion contenders this season and change to a more clinical attitude in front of goal.

Newport striker Jamille Matt may have taken the gloss off an otherwise enjoyable night for Bury fans, yet the overall mood around Gigg Lane seems rather positive as Bury continue to entertain fans in League 2.

Taking on Newport last night who lie just outside the automatic promotion places, the home side enjoyed 61% possession and had fifteen shots on the Newport goal. All this coming after a 4-0 hammering of Notts County the previous Saturday.

Over 4,000 fans turned up on last weekend to watch Bury sneak into the playoff places and go 2 up within twenty minutes. Last night Danny Mayor and Joe Murphy made their 500th and 300th appearances for the club.

Newport on a cold Tuesday night provided Bury with a stern test to see just how far they’ve come on in recent weeks. It needed a point-blank save from County keeper Joe Day to deny Bury another three points and Newport left with a one all draw.

The Shakers are now unbeaten in six games and lie just outside one place and a point off the playoffs. With twenty-four goals scored already and a fresh new signing Nicky Maynard getting off to a flyer, has left fellow League Two club Crewe kicking themselves.

The Cheshire club let Maynard go in pre-season and Bury have stolen a gem. Look no further than five goals in just four games for the reason in Bury’s rising points total.

It will now be twenty-five days before the home faithful gets to see Bury and Maynard at home in the league again, when the Shakers entertain Stevenage. How important Maynard’s goals are to Bury’s points totals and gate numbers remains to be seen.

The overall feeling from the ever loyal Bury fans who made the trip to Crewe last Saturday was this: Two points dropped rather than one point gained.

Despite coming from behind, Bury again rued missed chances as they saw an opportunity missed to notch up their sixth win of the season and close in on the early play-off places.

After a disappointing start to the season, the Shakers have more than stopped the bleeding and, continue to make decent progress under the tuition of Ryan Lowe.

Yet the three straight draws in the league may come to haunt the Shakers as the season progresses. With the Mansfield point leaving a feeling of joy, the result after the same outcome against Crewe left a feeling of frustration.

However, there’s more than a fair share of positives to take from Bury’s recent performances. The impact of Nicky Maynard being the main one. The former Crewe man scoring against his old club last week, giving him a more than respectable tally of three goals in two games.

For the first time in a good few years, there’s a feel-good factor amongst Bury fans that hasn’t been felt for a while. The club is looking up the table rather than down and after treading water in League One for the previous two seasons, life in League Two is offering the Shakers some hope.

So what could bring more smiles to the faces of Bury fans?

More wins to match their positive performances would do just nicely.

Back to back home games against Notts County and Newport should fit the bill just nicely. Both teams at two different ends of the table.

One game to get going and the other to lay down a marker. Over to you lads!

Just five games of the new season and Bury fans weren’t feeling very optimistic. It’s easy to jump at early conclusions and football fans are the worst at times. Some fans of the Shakers fans were already considering back to back relegations. The loyal faithful feared the worst as Bury just couldn’t stop losing late leads.

Yet since a difficult start, things have fallen nicely into place for Ryan Lowe’s men. As the away day blues looked to have been cured, Bury look to go four unbeaten away at South Manchester side Crewe Alexandra.

The visitors go into the game as favourites and fresh off two goals at home to Mansfield, Nicky Maynard goes into this game on top form. On his home debut last Saturday, Maynard got off to the best possible start getting onto the scoresheet after firing blanks at Northampton and Colchester on his first outings.

Two goals in his first three games is no bad start and the League Two outfit could do with a proven goalscorer capable of twenty plus goals a season to fire them back to League One.

Ryan Lowe will want somebody to follow in his 2010/11 season footsteps when the scouser’s goals helped get Bury promoted.

Maynard may just be the man Lowe needs then. After training with Crewe during the summer, Bury may just make tomorrows opponents eat their words.

How good it would be for the former Aberdeen man too having only joined the club at the end of September with Jermaine Beckford and Caolan Lavery injured, Maynard could end up lasting till the end of the season, however, he’s only contracted till January.

Of course the amount of goals he scores will be crucial to his playing career at Bury. A goal or two at Crewe tomorrow wouldn’t be a bad way to start.